Dynamic Change
by Scarlett-Whitecross20
Summary: The Kral Zera was a disaster.. yet a victory was won. The fire was lit.. lighting another in a different sense. Shiro’s off desicion becomes realized once the flames have died down.


Voltron Legendary Defender: Dynamic Change

_What a day._ Exiting his lion felt different than it had before. He'd hardly had a chance to think on it further when a group led by the princess of Altea came marching over to him.

"Shiro, what were you thinking?!" Allura questioned hotly, stalking up to be in his face. "You and Lotor could've been killed today.. and as a result of that, your rash decision for a solo mission; almost cost us the Black Lion _and_ it's pilot, and now the entire Galra Empire is falling apart. What exactly were you trying to prove, other than how foolish the act of diving into a fight without support was a huge mistake.

"Allura,.. we didn't have a choice. The Kral Zera would've happened regardless." Shiro replied stiffly. "If we had not taken this opportunity to put Lotor on the throne, like we'd been discussing,.. Sendak may have claimed the throne instead, and we'd have been back where we started all over again."

"That isn't an excuse to almost get you.. _and_ Lotor into trouble that almost got you caught.." Allura shot back harshly, her brow furrowed intensely at him.

"Look, I'm sorry my actions seemed.. a little rash and put us all in a tight spot. But what does it matter?.." Shiro responded dryly, seeming slightly genuine in his words. "Lotor is now Emperor.. just as we wanted… The mission was a disaster, but ultimately,.. we achieved the goal we set."

"It's not _about_ that." Allura replied hurtfully. "The fact that after we discussed this _twice_ before, and yet you _still_ went ahead and did it without us.. I mean,.. what part of you thought that was okay? You're a better leader than that, we've _all_ seen it. So why would you make such an atypical choice?"

"Sometimes it's worth the risk." Shiro responded forwardly, facing her squarely. "This is what we'd been discussing long before the Kral Zera even came to our attention. We had been meaning to do all along.. our opportunity was presented to us with the Kral Zera and we needed to take it.

"You mean you _decided_ to take it; after we all agreed not to." Allura shot back, a fire still bubbling up inside of her. "Honestly Shiro what has been going on here? You've been wanting to make choices on your own, even though we've always decided these things together. I don't understand it.. how have we betrayed your trust that you insist on just making these decisions alone?" Shiro stared at her, an atmosphere of anger rising; partially masked by Shiro's stoic glance.

"Uhh.. Shiro?" Hunk spoke up slowly, feeling the awkwardness more heavily than anyone else;.. or so it seemed. Shiro remained silent a moment longer, gathering his thoughts if that was possible to form a response.

"I'm sorry, ok." He said finally, and with that he weaved around the princess and strode past them without even a glance or further comment; leaving everyone to watch him go.

_XXXX_

"I don't know what to do.." Allura spoke out openly to the group standing around her, at the teludav. "It is not like a Shiro of _all people_ to do this sort of thing. He's always been the mild-mannered one of us all. And now he's become something completely different."

"Relax Allura,.. we'll figure this out." Lance encouraged calmly. "I'm not saying I'm not upset too about what happened today… And.. I don't condone the fact that Shiro went off without us like that. But.. we _all_ know he hasn't exactly been himself since he got back. He.. might still be struggling with it all over again. His ademacy may just be cause he's going through something."

"Yeah, but what?" Pidge inquired. "What could possibly be going on that he's not wanting to share with us; that's making him so _unlike_ himself.." gesturing out from her body only summed up her uncertainty of the situation.

"Well.. he was pretty messed up the _first time_ he was taken by the Galra." Lance reasoned. "Whatever they may have done to him _this_ time is probably still coursing through his mind. He may just be trying to cope with it all again." The room fell silent as they thought on this. Their thoughts almost writing themselves in the air around them, and they realized they could almost hear one another's thoughts; looking up at one neither again.

"Maybe we should.. talk to him again." Pidge suggested softly, even just a little sheepish as well.

"Or?.." Hunk began, raising a hand tenuously. "We have someone _else_ who knows him even more than we do, do it." And the team had to think a moment on what he meant.

_XXXX_

A shadow cast itself into the boldly defined light, escaping through the doorway into the dark room; to find the only one who resided within it silently with his back to the newcomer.

"I thought I'd find you in one of these places." Sam's voice spoke up. Shiro didn't move, instead he remained as he was, as though he hadn't heard him at all. The room remained dark, and they stood a fair distance apart; Shiro closest to where the screen registered the ever moving panorama of outer space outside the ship.

"Shiro,.. listen.. your friends wouldn't try to defy you, just for the sake of defiance. You know, as well as I do that they wouldn't go against you, if they didn't have a good reason to believe otherwise." The commander advanced silently reaching Shiro, but not touching him.

"What have I done to get this?" He asked his older friend, finally turning to him. Their eyes locking, giving Sam a clear vision into Shiro's distraught grey eyes.

"Absolutely nothing." Sam told him. "But you _had_ to know there would be a time where not _everyone_ would agree with you."

"Except for everyone _didn't_ agree." Shiro countered in defeat. "And yet it succeeded.. a lot differently than I planned, but.. it worked nonetheless… That's gotta be worth something isn't it?"

"Well I think it does.." Sam shrugged in agreement. "But you must also realize that the way you went about it was a very careless one, and it put us all at a high risk. Going off alone was a very dangerous thing to do, and it could've been a _lot_ worse. Lucky for you that it all worked out."

"Yeah… lucky for me." Shiro trailed softly, his gaze wandering.

"I don't want to discourage you." Sam told him after a short silence. "And.. your friends weren't trying to break your chain of command. But, you know, they had the Coalition's and your _own_ safety in mind when they did it. We need to remember to plan our attacks more carefully. You know as well as I that,.. one wrong move.. and the Galra have chance."

Shiro turned to face him fully.

"I know." Shiro replied finally. "I'm sorry, Sam."

"It's not _me_ you should be apologizing to." Sam implied thoughtfully. And Shiro's mind wandered once again.

_XXXX_

The doors parted to open up the bridge to the two men, the rest of the team inside looking up at hearing it. Sam and Shiro entered silently bringing with them an atmosphere that change the existing one immediately upon their entry.

"Team, I.. want apologize for my.. rash decision." Shiro began softly. "My head hasn't really been in the game since I got back.. and.. I don't wanna be taking my own struggles out on you because of that."

The team stared at him in silence, pondering their response. "I haven't been listening to you lately and I don't wanna be the reason this team falls apart. I don't regret what I did because in the end it succeeded,.. but I also feel it could've been done differently. I won't let this happen again. Our mission is not without any one of us. And we can't gamble on ourselves or the situations around us for _any_ reason. I won't make that mistake again,.. not if I can help it."

"We're glad you've come to terms with this, Shiro." The Princess replied, coming to him meaningfully. "But I _do_ hope that we can try to be more understanding of all that's going on. We should all remember that your rough return may also play a part into this unsettling predicament; and we should try to be more sensitive to that as well."

"And from now on we continue to make choices together in order to plan our course of action regardless of how any one of us feels." Shiro went on. "I know at times it's been difficult to stay in agreement on some things, but,.. it's got us this far. So we shouldn't quit now while we may be close to finally putting the war against the Galra to an end."

"Agreed. And I think _now_ is as good as any to say that we're all glad that Lotor has succeeded in taking the throne." The Princess finished. "Part of me wonders if we should've listened to you on this.. but.. either way.. it doesn't matter. Cause our objective was ultimately secured." Her eyes turned up to Shiro's. "Let us not dwell on this anymore... So we can finally move forward in the plans we have to set for the journey ahead."

"Allura's right." Shiro decided. "And let's start.. by saying goodbye to Sam.." The Black Paladin setting a hand around his old friend's shoulders knowingly in saying this. "And bid him good luck on his journey back to Earth." And with that, the team filed out of the bridge to head down to the hanger.. to say their goodbyes.

~Dynamic Change~

**Hey guys! Here's just a little snippet that bridges the gap between the episode "Kral Zera" to the episode "Bloodlines" in season five.**

**I always wondered why there was no real follow up to Shiro's rash solo mission by the end of "Kral Zera" and thought that it needed it. Especially since Allura was angry to learn that Shiro and Lotor had gone off alone to the Kral Zera. And the fact that in the next episode "Bloodlines" they seem perfectly fine again. Like nothing had ever happened. So I thought that begged justification… with this little one-shot. Hope you guys like it! But again if there's any thoughts that you have on this matter, or ideas of your own on how this went down, please share! Yes this thing is short, and the one entry of this title.. but I believe it encompasses what may or manor have happened after Lotor's success at the Kral Zera. Hope you enjoy and I'll see you guys again. Thx!**


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